Forecast 1955

m

PUBLISHER’S PAGE

OMES the Revolution , you will eat caviar, and like it,” the great
comic Willy Howard used to tell his admiring audiences.

What he didn't say was that the revolution was actually upon us.
Indeed, we are in it right now, tip to our ankles, even though most
people don't realize it. The brand of caviar we are “eating” Is far
more expensive than the real thing—and it would appear we like it — even
though it has changed and will rapidly further transform our lives.

This fancy “caviar” in the present technological upheaval is television, the
jet plane, atomics and automation, to mention only a few of the hundreds of
brands of the electronic age. Yet we have only scratched the surface so far —
maybe in 50 years we will be up to our middles in this revolutionary cycle]
Yet we all agree, the beginning thus far has been pleasant; far more so than
the predictions of those dire prophets of doom, who see only chaos in every
important new invention and discovery — technological unemployment, de-
pressions and worse. These false soothsayers have not learned, and never will,
that the impact of every great new T innovation on our economy is in reality
like a tremendous new capital enhancement, a Marshall Plan of its own. We
should all be grateful that we live in this exciting age, where new wonders are
created every day and where new revolutionary achievements make for sus-
tained prosperity.

On with this modern type of revolution! Steeped and saturated with these
revolutionary sentiments, may I, therefore, as I have for the past 46 years]
shake your hand, wherever you are — oh yes, I really can do it now (se«
page 4) — and tender you my customary and cordial heartfelt wishes for 1955,
In addition please let me wish you

Sogaus fflhrietttra*

i\nh a 3Sappg mxb Prosperous 3§t?ar

HUGO GERNSBACK

Despite tt All, Your Editor and Publisher Since 1908,

25 West Broadway, New York

KADIO^EUECTRONICS MAGAZINE

GERNSBACK LIBRARY

SEXOLOGY MAGAZINE

SEXQLOGIA MAGAZINE On Spanish)

;

Entire contents originated and written by Hugo Gernsback

Address all correspondence regarding this magazine to 25 West Broadway, New York 7, N. Y. Putolisliei
may reprint contents of this magazine if usual credit is given. Far art work, communicate with
R. Fall at h t Promotion Manager, RAD ID-ELECTRON ICS Magazine, 25 West Broadway, N. Y, C- 7, N, Y,

Art work by Frank Paul

Copyright 1954 by Hugo Corns back

I

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In the near future patients will be visited by doctors via television*
The distant doctor can do almost everything with his electronic Telehands*

Projection of the senses

over a distance began early in
the animal world. The cries ut-
tered by alarmed prehistoric rep-
tiles, saurians or birds were trans-
mitted over a distance to warn
others. A highly developed and
sensitized olfactory sense brought
the smell of an enemy creature to

the nostrils of early mammals
who could then flee promptly,
thus avoiding destruction. The
sense of sight, too, became sharp-
ly developed in many animals and
especially birds which could then
observe potential enemies — or
their own prey — often from
a point many miles away.

4

FORECAST

Patient and distant doctor are connected by telephone and closed circuit Ttf.
Doctor can treat ten times as many patients via teledoctonng as in person.

Modern man, with new scien-
tific techniques, has greatly im-
proved the projection of some of
his senses, not only over a few,
but over hundreds and thousands
of miles. By telephone, we can
hear and speak to distant friends
around the world. Via television,
we can see across continents.

As I have pointed out in ear-
lier articles, it will be possible
in the future to smell and taste
half-way around the globe — and
further.* But science does not
stop with this. There is the far
more important conception of the

*3ee ^Telebiovision, 1 ’ Forecast 19 5B,
page 22*

doctor

projection of the self at a dis-
tance. This means nothing less
than the possibility now dawning
for man to be in two places at
the same time.

# I will give here but one ex-
ample of this revolutionary con-
cept, which, incidentally, is NOT
in the future— it can be realized
today, with the technical means
available now.

The average medical doctor to-
day is over- worked and short-
lived. There are never enough
doctors anywhere, for the world’s
constantly multiplying popula-
tion. Many patients die because
the doctor cannot reach them in
time, particularly at night and
in remote or isolated regions.

Furthermore, the doctor wastes
a terrific amount of time visiting
patients in person — he can see
only a few during a day. With
increasing traffic congestion,
many doctors refuse to make per-
sonal calls— except in emergen-
cies. Even then they arrive often
too late. Much of this dilemma
will be archaic in the near fu-
ture, thanks to the Teledoctor.*

I imagine this innovation as
follows: Incorporated as an in-
tegral part into a combination
television camera and receiver is

* See also article on the same subject:
“The Radio Teledactyl 1 ’ by EL Gems-
baelt, SCIENCE & INVENTION maga-
zine, Feb* 1925, page 978*

a set of mechanical hands. T lie
latter are now routinely manu-
factured by General Electric and
other manufacturers. These in-
credibly sensitive hands are pri-
marily used in atomic plants
where scientists handle danger-
ous, “hot 1 ' atomic substances
from a distance, without per-
sonally exposing themselves to
danger. With these telehands ,
the scientist can do almost any-
thing at a distance — writing,
weighing, pouring liquids, un-
screwing covers of “hot” con-
tainers — yes, even diapering a
baby, miles away, including put-
ting on the safety pins. The sense
of touch has been projected over
a distance! The action, of course,
is watched via television.

• The teledoctor of the near
future Jiow becomes an actual
projection of the doctor. In front
of his television transmitter - re-
ceiver is a panel with a number
of instruments which indicate
blood pressure, pulse, respiration
and other data routinely required
in most examinations of patients.

Now let us see how you, the
patient of tomorrow, “visit” your
doctor, 15 miles away. Suppose
you come down with a fever. You
or your wife make a call to the
local druggist, who is the agent
for the teledoctor corporation
which stocks the special TV

&

FORECAST

transmitter - receiver equipped
with its telehands.

These instruments are never
sold, only rented to the sick , say
for $3.50 a day. They are used
only for closed-circuit work. The
rubber- wheeled mechanism is de-
livered quickly to your home and
rolled in front of the bed. Lo- ■
cated in the drawer of the cab-
inet, right under the TV set, you
will find a thermometer, blood-
pressure appliance, sterile band-
ages, prescription blanks, fever
chart (with instructions), tongue
depressors, adhesive tapes and
other items routinely found in
every doctor’s black bag. A cord
with a telephone plug attached
to the teledoctor instrument is
now plugged into a special jack
on your telephone. Future tele-
phones will be provided with this
facility. The TV signals and tele-
hand electronic signals, etc., will
all travel over the closed circuit
telephone lines. * 1 ®

• Next you dial your physi-
cian’s telephone number. He or
his nurse takes the call. A ou give
your name and state that your
teledoctor instrument is plugged

* Technical note * At the present stale
of the art, it is not possible to trans-
mit a 525 line TV signal over ex-
isting telephone lines. A good picture

i >1 250-350 lines, however, can be

phone- transmitted today* Sue h a picture
would give sufficient definition for the
proper operation of the teledoctor*

in and ready* The doctor now
plugs his own set into the tele-
phone and in a few seconds two-
way communication is established.
The doctor by electronic telecon-
trol moves your instrument into
the best position, raising or
lowering your set, which has a
swivel mechanism for that pur-
pose.

The color camera is now
trained on you and the doctor
looks you over. He listens to
your heart — not with a stetho-
scope, but with the back of his
right telehand. This has a sensi-
tive microphone which the doctor
places over your heart. He hears
your heartbeat, now strongly
amplified, over his loudspeaker.

• He next takes your blood
pressure, looks into your throat
or examines any part of you. If
he wants to inject you with peni-
cillin or other medication, he will
ask you to place a prescription
blank into a holder arranged for
this purpose. He picks up a spe-
cial pencil from the drawer and
writes out a prescription, then
signs it. A ou are to get this from
your drugstore as soon as feasi-
ble. When you have received it,
you call the doctor once more.
He places the special injection
cartridge, now on the market
called Busker, into his telehand

Continued on page 3 1

1755

7

KILLER

A LMOST every fall, hurricanes kill scores
of people and destroy property running
into the hundreds of millions of dollars along
the eastern Atlantic seaboard from the Carib-
bean to Canada, not to forget much greater
damage in the lower lands in the correspond-
ing Pacific area.

While many proposals have been made in
the past to destroy or divert hurricanes, noth-
ing has come of them. The chief reason is
that once a hurricane is well on its way, it
packs a fearful force, running into the trillions
of horsepower during every second of its ram-
page. Furthermore, a full-blown hurricane
covers an area from 300 to 500 miles in
diameter and reaches up to lb. 000 feet high
around its eye.

As long ago as 1945, I proposed the use
of special atomic bombs to divert storms. This
may prove feasible in the future. Others have
proposed spreading burning oil on the ocean
in the path of the advancing storm. The lat-
ter idea would seem futile in case of a ma-
ture hurricane, for once such a huge whirling
mass of air has gained sufficient
momentum, nothing known on
earth today can stop it.

The human mind really is un-
able to fully comprehend the un

Slightly deviating hurri-
cane may push it off course*

<1 escribe it
During

believable titanic forces generated

by the average
rampage. There

hurricane on a
seems no way to

graphically,
the past few years,
however, we have learned a great
deal about hurricanes. Nowa-
days they are tracked by air from
the moment they are born— usu-
ally in the Caribbean region.

s

FORECAST

A dry, fierce hot fire curtain is created by dropping thousands of napalm-
magnesium bombs from an airfleef near or on the embryo hurricane*

• IT IS THEN THAT WE
MUST ATTACK. A day or
two later, would be useless. To
elucidate, let us keep in mind
that man has in the past con-
trolled nature to a degree with
comparatively small energies.

This is done successfully at times
through what physicists call
“trigger effects.” Let us note a
few examples:

Spreading a few barrels of oil
on a very heavy sea can calm the
ocean over an appreciable area

19SS

9

near a- ship. The dropping of a
few ounces of silver iodide (or
other chemicals) on a cloud can
release thousands of tons of rain.
If a large lake on a windless day
becomes supercooled, i.e., a num-
ber of degrees below the freez-
ing point, it often does not freeze.
If then we throw a single stone
into the supercooled water, the
entire lake will freeze over solid
in a few seconds, often to an ap-
preciable depth.

# To deal with a hurricane, all
we need to do is: 1 — divert its
course, 2 — stop its rotary coun-
ter-clockwise motion, or 3 — use
both means. But to succeed WE
MUST ACT SOON, AT
THE STORM’S BIRTH.

All of this is feasible today.
We have the technical means as
well as the materiel to carry on
a successful campaign against any
hurricane. And the cost would be
trifling compared to the astro-
nomical sums we expend each
year undoing the havoc caused
by hurricanes, let alone the thou-
sands of injured and killed peo-
ple left in the wake of these de-
structive storms.

The modus operand i would be
roughly as follows: We require
500 to 1,000 Navy or Air Force
planes, depending on how fast
the planes can get to the loca-
tion of the embryo hurricane.

# Each plane carries a ton or
more of a specially developed type
of Napalm - Magnesium bomb.
These incendiary gasoline - gel
bombs were used during the
Korean War with excellent re-
sults. For hurricane purposes, we
require a far hotter type of bomb
that will stay afloat on the sur-
face of the ocean until it is en-
tirely consumed. Such a bomb
can be manufactured today with-
out difficulty in large quantities
at prices which are not prohibi-
tive.

The heat generated by such
super - temperature bombs runs
into several thousand degrees and
is effective over an appreciable ra-
dius. The fierce DRY heat also
creates a powerful air updraft.

It should be noted that hurri-
canes thrive on hot ?noist. air
which carries the evaporated
ocean water upward. But I be-
lieve that the hot dry air created
by the napalm-magnesium bombs
may actually divert the hurricane
to great heights where it would
dissipate itself.

The attack by the fleet of air-
planes on the hurricane may take
several forms. The air command
may wish to try and divert the
storm by pushing or maneuver-
ing it into a new course, away
from the land into the open sea.
In that case, the planes will at-
tack from a selected point of the

10

FORECAST

compass, laying down a barrage
of bombs from that direction.
The planes, flying in formation
at a predetermined height, will
drop all their bombs simultane-
ously . The bombs are fired auto-
matically the instant they strike
the surface of the water.

• Within seconds, a huge, solid
curtain of fire rises to the sky,
engulfing a fair amount of hur-
ricane air and diverting it. A sec-
ond wave of planes may now
drop a further load of fire bombs
across the hurricane, i.e., across
both east and west walls of the
rotating mass of air. A third
wave may seed fire bombs north
or south, if necessary.

This entire method may have
to be repeated several times, if
required, and no two storms will
probably work out alike. After
sufficient experience with a num-
ber of hurricanes, the final know-
how will be evolved and carried

out routinely. It may even de-
velop that the best means of at-
tack lies through the “eye” of the
hurricane.

Usually the center of these
storms is a roughly circular zone
of comparative quiet. Ships steam-
ing through such an eye have
thus reported them. It may be
possible to break up a hurricane
by dropping 500 or more fire
bombs right in the eye somewhere
near the rotating “walls” of air.

® In any case, I believe, the
scheme is worth trying. The cost
is not prohibitive and we have
the means at hand for a full-scale
trial. Our Government has in the
past expended far greater sums
in less attractive enterprises. And
we may learn a lot once we at-
tack a hurricane in earnest. The
whole eastern American seaboard
will applaud any reasonable ef-
fort in this direction.

The stakes are truly enormous
— the cost comparatively minute.

TO OUR READERS

FORECAST 1955 — like its many other predecessors — is the annual Christmas
Card of publisher HUGO GERNSBACK. Over 6,000 copies have been printed
for the publisher's friends In and out of the radio, electronic and television
industry. Please do not send money for extra copies — the booklet Is NOT for
sale. Requests for single copies of FORECAST 1955 can be filled only as
long as the present supply lasts. Quantity orders cannot be accommodated.

1955

11

r T is no longer news that the
Soviet Union is rapidly over-
taking the United States in tech-
nical education. I have called at-
tention to this very serious state
of affairs in an article recently.*
Many stories in the press con-
tinue to sound the alarm at an
ever-increasing' tempo, with an
overtone of despair and frustra-
tion, t Reading these, it would
appear that there is no remedy
in sight, because of fundamental
shortcomings in our educational
setup for training technicians.

• We are told over and over
that due to our traditional under-

* RADIO - ELECTRONICS, February,
1954, * 'Wanted : Technicians. "

fKEW YORK TIMES, Nov. 7. 1954.
“Russia Is Overtaking- U. S. in Train-
ing of Technicians/ 1

paying of teachers we cannot
hope now to reverse quickly the
trend of teacher - instructor de-
fection. We cannot hold the
thousands who abandon their
poorly paid jobs to take more
lucrative positions in industry or
elsewhere.

New instructors — even if we
finally see the light and pay them
attractive salaries — cannot be re-
cruited overnight. It takes years
to develop a good teacher or edu-
cator. Not all the money in the
world can undo the harm already
perpetrated by our past laissez-
faire.

The security of our country is
based on technology and science.
These arej in fact , our national
lifeblood. Yet since 1950 the
number of our technical gradu-
ates and scientists has decreased

12

FORECAST

By 1955 Russia will have more technicians, which are our lifeblood, than U.S, We can
only overtake the U.S.S.R. by quickly building a tec-educational, closed circuit TV
network. At a central U.S, Teletorium the world's foremost technical teachers will
instruct over half a million college students simultaneously all over the country* Giants
of education will then teach hundreds of thousands instead of the hundreds of today.

1955

13

constantly. Within a few short
years — if we don’t reverse the
trend — we will be running far
behind the Soviet Union,

• Today the United States, with
160 million inhabitants, has a
scant 700,000 engineer-scientists.
The Soviet Union, with a popu-
lation of 213 millions, has almost
600,000. While our yearly num-
ber of technical graduates is
rapidly decreasing, the Russians
are increasing theirs as rapidly.

By 1955, THE SOVIETS
WILL HAVE SURPASSED
US BY FAR.

What the effect of this will
be on our economy, our war po-
tential and our very survival can
be readily imagined. What is the
answer ?

Since 1950, I have been advo-
cating mass education via televi-
sion.* This was spearheaded by
an editorial article I wrote for
Radio - Electronics, September
1951, entitled “Teleducation.”

I he Board of Education of New
Vork City evinced interest in
the idea; but so far it has not
been adopted, evidently due to
lack of funds.

• The idea in its simplest terms
can be described as follows: In-
stead of more — and often medi-

*See my Christmas bookie* NEWS-
PEEK, December, 1950. “Few Teach-
ers Reach Many Via TV.' 1

ocre — teachers and instructors, we
need fewer but outstanding ones,
men who are the very best in the
land. These educators will teach
millions of pupil-students at the
same time by television , from one
Central Teletorium which could
be located say in New York, Chi-
cago, Washington or anywhere
else. Classrooms all over the
country would be interconnected
by a closed-circuit wire or micro-
wave relay system to the Central
Teletorium.

Because of the magnitude of
such a national universal educa-
tional undertaking , it would of
necessity have to be a Federally
built one. The Government
would not operate such a system,
but finance it through the States.

While the fundamental idea of
teleducation is simple in concept,

I can visualize endless ramifica-
tions. For a better understanding
of its scope, I will enumerate
here only a few of its aspects.

• Emanating from a single Cen-
tral Teletorium, a number of
teaching programs can be broad-
cast over the closed circuits. Thus
one set of teachers can teach
grade schools. Another group will
teach higher grades, A third can
teach science for the lower grades.
Eor high school purposes, there
will be specially selected and
more diversified science programs,

14

FORECAST

such as, the fundamentals of me-
chanics, chemistry, electricity-
electronics, astronomy, etc.

The local schools all will have
large projection type TV screens,
so no pupil will have to strain
his eyes to see the distant lec-
turer. Loudspeakers placed
around the classroom will repro-
duce the voice of the teleteacher
loudly and clearly.

Teleducation tvill not displace
present teachers — it will supple-
ment a?id augment them. Thus,
the teleducation programs can be
broadcast into the classrooms
every other hour. The hours in be-
tween are left open for the local
teachers for individual instruc-
tion, blackboard work, supervi-
sion during tests, etc. It will be
seen from this that the system can
be made as flexible as required.

Time difference between re-
mote points of the country and
the Central Teletorium is no
problem. The programs can be
repeated to remote towns via film
or tape, as we do today in com-
mercial TV.

Subversion by individual local
teachers will become very diffi-
cult under the teleducation sys-
tem , because the teacher no longer
controls the classroom as hap-
pens sometimes at present.

• Most important, however, for
the future of our country is the

aspect of technology in teleduca-
tion.

Just as we have a national
closed - circuit TV network for
grade and high schools, there will
be a similar one for colleges and
universities, covering the entire
country. In principle, it will be
similar. The faculties of the vari-
ous colleges and universities will
remain as they are, but they will
be augmented and amplified by
scientific and technological giants
of the world from the Central
Teletorium.

# No single university could
possibly afford a constant
stream of our country’s and
the world’s greatest scientists,
which can now be summoned
either in person or by remote
control and connected into the
national T e c -T e leducation
university hookup. How fool-
ish we once were, our chil-
dren will say in the future, to
allow our great scientists to
talk only to a few dozen or
perhaps a few hundred pupils
when the great man could lec-
ture to 500,000 at the same
time! And what student would
wish to be absent when the
latest Nobel-prize scientist or
the Einstein of his day speaks?

Fortunately for America,
we have in our hands today
the technical means of making

Continued on page St

1955

15

umrnd

f 1 1 H E technical world never stands still.

As new know-how, new inventions, new
facts and new techniques evolve, they are
seized on immediately to improve present-day
devices of every kind, whether pens, auto-
mobiles, floor mops, radios, corkscrews or
television sets. Nothing is ever perfected;
improvements, like evolution, never stop.

• This has been ever true in the radioelec-
tronic industry, famous for rapid changes.
No sooner has the latest model been an-
nounced, than its designers have already
scrapped it in their minds and have moved
on to next year’s designs. This
trend is even more common in

TV set of the future has
Is three dimensional. Has
wall. Sees and hears o

television where the leading man-
ufacturers bring out new and
more modern designs throughout
the year.

It follows that the television

receiver of the future will bear
little resemblance to present-day
models. This becomes even more
apparent when we reflect that
television has been with us only a
comparatively short time — 8 years'

functions* Has no aortal* fance. Transmits to other house sets. Pushbutton oper-

luro tube. Hangs flat on ated* Brings live Broadway shows by subscription. Turns

telephone, long dis- off and on automatically. Is its own burglar watchdog.

It is still in its swaddling clothes.

For that reason, we should not
he" overly surprised at the radical
and perhaps fundamental changes
t fiat lie ahead for the new art.
\nd as television is intimately

fused with its parent, electronics
— the latter itself of recent origin
— anything is possible in the fu-
ture. Here are a few ideas on
television as your children will
know them in times to come.

/ 0 \

TV

RECEIVER

16

FORECAST

1955

17

• The televiser of the future
will certainly require no outdoor
antenna, except in very special
cases (fringe areas, etc.).

• Your receiver will be stereo-
scopic, i.e., the pictures will have
depth — it will be three-dimen-
sional.

• Your TV set will not have
a huge picture tube and most
probably it will not be a cathode-
ray tube at all. Consequently,
there will be no dimensional scan-
ning which makes for today’s
long electronic scanning beams
and long picture tubes. In the fu-
ture television screen there will
be millions of special spots, self-
glowing in three colors when ex-
cited electronically in their proper
linear sequence. They probably
will be “steered” by atomic auto-
transistors or like devices.

0 The resulting picture will be
so brilliant that it can be viewed
in bright sunlight. The size of
your TV set will be only as large
as its screen. Thus a 21 -inch set
will measure about 23 by 16
inches, but it will be only 2 or
3 inches thick. The receiver can
be placed on a table or hung on
the wall like a picture.

Its glass , plastic or other spe-
cial face plate will also be the
loud speaker. This speaker will

be for the bass or low notes. The
high notes will have a special
speaker incorporated in the frame
which surrounds the receiver.

• The TV set hanging on the
wall, when not turned on, will
appear as a beautiful painting,
water color or drawing. 1 his pic-
ture part disappears the instant
the set is put in operation.* Thus,
instead of a cumbersome appear-
ing big receiver using a large
floor area as do present sets, the
future TV set becomes an es-
thetic picture on the wall. It will
weigh less than 25 pounds, mak-
ing it easy to service.

• All controls of the future
TV set will be pushbutton-
operated. Almost invisible, these
buttons will be set in the lower
part of the frame of the set.
Each receiver will have a plug-
in cord for remote control opera-
tion; and a small disc that fits
the hand will have its own but-
tons for tuning, volume, off-on
switch, etc.

• Other more elaborate models
will be almost wholly automatic.
They will turn themselves on
and off at certain specified times,
for certain selected programs only,

* First described by the author in
BA DIO - ELECTRONICS, January, 1954,
page 33,

IS

FORECAST

switching to other programs au-
tomatically. You will also be able
to turn the set on or off from
any part of the room merely by
blowing a tiny supersonic whistle
that humans cannot hear. 1 he
whistle is similar to the special
dog whistles now on the market.

® Merely by pushing an extra
button on the side of your re-
ceiver will change it from broad-
cast to closed circuit. It also be-
comes a transmitter noiu. Lenses
for viewing and a microphone
for listening will be built into
the top of the television set
frame. Similar TV sets located
in various rooms in 5 r our home
(or office) automatically become
intercommunicating. Hence you
can carry on conversations as
well as see other persons in vari-
ous rooms as desired. Note : T hose
desiring full privacy simply do
not press the special closed - cir-
cuit button of their set. They
are thus excluded from inter-
communication.

* This does not end the versa-
tility of the future TV set by
any means. It can be connected
to your telephone by throwing a
-.pedal switch on the phone. You
can now talk with and see people

across the continent and they (at
least their faces) will appear life-
size on your receiver.

• If you are a subscriber to the
drama, the opera, the concert
hall, your TV set will bring you
the latest Broadway show alive
or whatever entertainment you
desire — for a price of course —
over the switched-on closed cir-
cuit.

If you are afraid of burglars,
you can become a member of a
special safety service supervision
company. 1 hey will monitor your
home 24 hours a day via your
TV set. They will watch your
home whether you are in or out
or on a trip. It would be diffi-
cult for burglars or intruders not
to be seen. Cutting wires or
darkening the supervised rooms
will be disastrous for the rob-
bers— it will instantly bring the
police on the run.

• Lack of space precludes the
listing of numerous other uses of
the future Universal TV set. But
one conclusion is certain — the
t elevision set in the home can
easil y become the most impor-

tant and valued , as_ well as the
tr uly indispensible possession of

the future household.

1955

19

A S publisher and editor of
Sexology — a largely medi-
cal magazine, now in its 22nd
year — I have come into continu-
ous contact with scores of psy-
chiatrists and psychoanalysts in
both the U.S. and abroad. I be-
lieve, for this reason, that I am
qualified to make a number of
observations and recommenda-
tions which may be helpful to
many practicing members of the
psychoanalytic fraternity.

Perhaps the greatest — and ad-
mitted — shortcoming of the pro-
fession is the large percentage of
non-medical members, those who
have no medical (M.D.) de-
gree. A qualified Freudian (and
associated schools) psychoanalyst
must undertake special training
for two or three years in addition
to the regular 6 year medical
education. For that reason, also,
the fees charged by a graduate
psychoanalyst are usually higher
than those of the average medical
doctor.

0 Unfortunately, too many non-
medical psychoanalysts are quite
unable to be of much benefit to
their patients, simply because

they do not have the proper
training. Many do more harm
than good. Others — and their
number is legion — are amateurs,
often quacks. Let us also record
that there is a fearful shortage of
good psychiatrists and psychoana-
lysts in the U.S. today. This ac-
counts for the fantastic over-
crowding of our mental institu-
tions.

The dictionary defines psycho-
analysis as that branch of psy-
chotherapy that prescribes treat-
ment in the light of experiences
elicited from the patient. In prac-
tice, this means that the patient,
while reclining on a couch, ram-
bles on and on, while the analyst
sits aside, listens and takes notes.
The patient, by unburdening
himself of his most secret and
innermost thoughts— particularly
those of his early childhood — can
often untrigger the roadblock
which causes much of his trouble
or illness. One important difficul-
ty is the frequently strong reluc-
tance of the patient to reveal very
intimate details in the presence
of the analyst. This is particu-
larly true of women. Once the
mental channel is cleared, the

20

FORECAST

The psychoanalyst's couch is pass£! For better results let the patient stay
home and talk into a taperecorder, mailing recorded tape to his doctor.

patient often is on the road to re-
covery. While this may be an
oversimplification, it will help the
average reader whom we do not
wish to burden with extended
technicalities.

In any event , it is a fact that
psychoanalysis is based chiefly
upon the mental catharsis of the
patient, and frequently the men-
tal block rests squarely upon some
youthful sexual experience.

For over two decades, we of
Sexology have seen this routine-
ly in a never-ending stream of
letters — some as long as 92 pages .
Such letters serve as enormous
« athartic expressions for the writ-
ers, who often profess themselves
relieved after one or two answer-
ing letters from our medical doc-

tor in charge of that department.

The analyst’s work is long and
tedious — each patient conies for
consultations of )A to one hour,
usually several times a week,
often for two or more years. The
cost to the patient is high — -not
many cases can be seen per day —
8 to 12 — a pitifully small number.

• The remedy: Do aivay with
the couch in the analyst’s office.
It. is an anachronism. Let the pa-
tient use his bed or sofa in his
own home. He now can talk in
the privacy of his home into the
microphone of a tape recorder
which he rents, for as long as
needed. The recorded tape is taken
or mailed to the analyst, once or

Continued on page SI

ms

21

N ightmares may be said

to be harmless to the
healthy, even if discomfiting, and
often frightening.

But to the ill, particularly
those with defective hearts, these
bad dreams are not only danger-
ous, but even fatal. This can be
readily understood by those who
have experienced a severe night-
mare and who have been awak-
ened by its alarming after-ef-
fects: a wildly beating heart,
strained to near bursting, and
a body soaked in perspiration.

• Medical science so far has not
come up with a workable solu-
tion. Drugs, for instance, are not
the answer. Heart patients can-
not be drugged night after night,
and there are few harmless drugs
that will suppress dreams, par-
ticularly nightmares.

The electronic device which I
describe here is an effective night-
mare killer, because it operates

fast at the beginning of the dis-
turbance , i.e., when the pulse
rate increases.

In electronics, we have a num-
ber of different means to accom-
plish the same results — among
others, varying the capacitance of
a condenser or directly affecting
the grid of a vacuum tube.

I will describe only a single
one, the latter. A metal band-
clasp with hinges is attached to
the wrist. Inside the metal band
there is a special miniature
vacuum tube. It is known as
an electro-mechanical transducer
tube.

• The grid part of the tube
goes right over the inside of the
wrist near the pulse artery. This
tube is enormously sensitive to
pulse variations. During normal
pulse, the electronic circuit is not
affected; it “idles.” An increas-
ing pulse rate, however, imme-
diately influences a second elec-

22

FORECAST

By using a special electronic tube placed in wrist band, a quickening
pulse at the start of a nightmare operates a device that wakes you up.

tronic tube which now energizes
an amplifier. This in turn closes
a relay. The latter then operates
a small induction coil connected
with two contact points under
the metal wristband. The mild
tingling series of shocks felt by
1 he wearer awakens him.

In a few seconds his pulse rate
subsides and the shocks stop.
Once used to the instrument, the
subject — -if he is a sound sleeper
— may not even wake up. He
probably will turn over on his
side and sleep on. (Most indi-
viduals who have nightmares
deep on their backs.)

The wearer of the electronic
wrist band is not discomforted
tty it or the thin connecting cord

which must be long enough not
to upset the box containing the
main elements.

The circuit usually chosen al-
lows for plugging the outfit into
the house 117-Volt a.c. supply.

® Patients need not fear an ac-
cidental connection to or harm
from the house current. The
wrist tube and the induction coil
which supplies the harmless
shocks are battery operated. Only
the amplifier is connected to the
house a.c. supply.

While a patent is pending on
this device, you may build a
nightmare stopper for your own
use — so long as it is not made
or sold commercially.

1955

23

is

THE

E

C

C

DUEL

A deadly duel is fought by electronics, the weapons: two flashlights* No skiH
of arms is required in this amazing encounter and more surprising ending.

VU HEN the two boyhood
"" friends, Frank Wallace and
Jed Carrel, graduated from col-
lege as electronic engineers, they
landed lucrative positions with
Electronda Laboratories, Be-
ing brilliant young men, they

advanced rapidly. The head of
the Laboratories predicted great
achievements for both of them.

The future looked electrifying
indeed until that fateful day
when the high-tension, sexually
explosive Gigi Gamier, the boss’s

niece, started a
chain reaction by
taking a minor
position in the
Laboratories’ ac-
counting depart-
ment.

0 It came as a
surprise to no
one that Gigi’s
scintillating black
eyes, her high-
Gauss personal
magnetism, her
low-decibelle au-
dio voice, her
sine- wave curva-
cious chassis, and
her wondrously
line, 50 AWG gauge, glistening
black hair completely short - cir-
cuited all Frank’s and Jed’s will-
power. Their capacitance for
further resistance was totally
punctured as well.

History abounds with many au-

The t i mekeeper
counts f he seconds.

thenticated cases of lightning
striking simultaneously in two
places, wreaking havoc in the
process.

Frank and Jed, within two
days of Gigi’s flamboyant entrance
into the Laboratories, quite natu-
rally had fallen in high-potential
love with her. They began dating
her continuously, if not furiously.
The love-making, too, was in the
upper regions of volatilizing fis-
sion.

In a few short weeks, the two
male lovers had almost complete-
ly exhausted their passion - volt-
age, which approached zero level.
Their love capacitance, too, had
sunk to a low current ebb — down
in the milliampere reaches.

Fi'ank was so exhausted that
he caught a severe case of full-
wave virulent virus that put him
hors de combat . Jed, however,
played it smart. He laid low for
two days, not out of fairness to
a sick friend, but to boost his

24

FORECAST

1955

25

own strength, knowing well that
Frank was incapacitated for sev-
eral weeks. Then he redoubled
his onslaught on the electrifying
Gigi in earnest. He amplified all
his signals and there was no doubt
left in her mind that his hi-fi love
output was “true dimension aid ’
He soon began to sense her con-
version when his ardent kisses
generated a firmer reciprocal con-
tact with a high-level feedback
that was eminently satisfactory.

• He could resistor no longer.
“Will you marry me — now, to-
night?” he panted. She scanned
her two gorgeous ’scopes only for
seconds, her eyelids oscillating
lazily, as she exhaled a weak
“Yes,” nestling in his arms.

Within hours, a willing jus-
tice of the peace had engineered a
permanent hookup for the lovers,
who next morning, with their em-
ployer’s blessings, departed for a
three- week honeymoon.

Not willing to face Frank, who
was slowly regenerating, they
sent him a wedding announce-
ment en route, after they were
certain he was well enough to
leave his bed. Frank, however,
had already heard the news by
underground transmission, and
no one can blame him if he
blew a fuse and his insulation
broke down badly. Indeed, he suf-
fered a self - induced relapse —

when the surging currents of
despair kept building up danger-
ous peaks which only slowly dis-
charged to a normal level.

0 Frank took the perfidiousness
of Jed and Gigi badly. He felt
that they had taken unfair ad-
vantage of him while he was ill.
He was certain that in a bal-
anced contest he would have come
out the winner — at least he would
have had a chance. But now
he felt cheated and he swore
vengeance.

As the days wore on — while
the “cheaters” were enjoying their
ill-gained honeymoon — a diaboli-
cal plan began to crystallize in
Frank’s feverish brain. The more
he thought about it, the better
he liked it.

He would challenge Jed to an
electronic duel, which he could
not refuse.

Accordingly, he began to rig
up an assortment of deadly elec-
tronic equipment in his own quar-
ters at the Electron da Labora-
tories. His spacious office lent it-
self well to this. No one paid
attention when research engi-
neers assembled special electronic
equipment from time to time. In
a few days, everything was in
readiness and he could now af-
ford to await calmly the return
of the enemy.

On a Monday morning, Jed

26

FORECAST

returned to his office. Frank con-
gratulated him with biting sar-
casm and sly innuendos, and
ended it all with an oblique refer-
ence to Gigi’s questionable past.
Indeed, he vouchsafed that he,
Frank, was extremely pleased to
have palmed oft the shopworn
Gigi on Jed so successfully!

0 Jed, in a hot b unsen- burner
rage, struck several vicious blows
at Frank, who thereupon insisted
that the two should have it out
that very night. Frank then also
suggested casually that if Jed
thought his honor was at stake
they could best set matters right
by fighting a duel — an electronic
duel. In the heat of the moment,
the outraged Jed agreed to this
and it was decided that they
would meet at the Laboratories
at 8 that night. Two mutual
friends, sworn to secrecy'', were
to witness the affair. It was fur-
thermore stipulated that Gigi
would not be informed of the
duel.

As both men had keys to the
Laboratories, they, as well as the
two witnesses, Philip Roche and
Franz Frantzen, assembled in
Frank’s office promptly at 8 P.M.

Philip and Franz — as is rou-
tine in all standard duels — in
vain tried to persuade the two
former friends to abandon their
mad project, only to be met with

stern rebuffs. Because, as Jed put
it succinctly, “There is not suf-
ficient room on this planet for
both of us — one must die!”

The dueling arrangement,
Frank explained, was eminently
fair to both men. They would
fight for their lives with extreme-
ly simple weapons — two ordinary
flashlights . Both men would sit
on metal chairs, twenty feet
apart, but facing each other.
Strapped over their hearts, each
man would have a light-sensitive
photoelectric cell, such as com-
monly used in electronic labora-
tories. Each photo cell and a relay
was connected to a separate and
powerful 50,000 -volt high-ten-
sion transformer,

0 The scenario went as fol-
lows: If subject 1 trained his
flashlight full on subject 2 ’s photo
cell, even for an instant , relay
No. 2 would close its circuit.
Transformer No. 2 would now
discharge its lethal current
through subject 2 , by way of
the metallic flashlight he w^as
holding. Separate return circuits
were wired to each chair, the
seat of which was wetted, assur-
ing a perfect contact for the elec-
trocution. It would be a noise-
less and painless death.

Frank and Jed personally
tested the circuits. Then one of
the seconds flipped a coin, de-

ms

27

aiding which duelist should oc-
cupy chair 1 and who should sit
in No. 2.

The men then seated them-
selves, pale but composed. It had
been agreed that both Frank and
Jed were to dangle their right
arms over the backs of their chairs
in the now darkened room, the
flashlights turned on, but point-
ing to the floor.

One of the witnesses was to
tick off 25 seconds, counting the
time back from 25 to zero. At
zero, both duelists were to point
their flashlights at each other as
quickly as possible, each trying
to be first in training the light
rays on his adversary’s photo cell
for a certain death.

The left hands of the rivals
were taped to the backs of their
chairs so neither contestant could
possibly cheat by placing his left
hand over the photo cell which
would then not function because
the flashlight’s rays could not op-
erate the light-sensitive cell.

All final preparations made,
the duelists sat grimly facing each
other in the dark, both flashlights
lit, illuminating the floor with
two ghostly circles. The quiet
was ponderous and nerve-wrack-
ing in its intensity, as Franz’s
methodic and clear voice droned
the fleeting seconds . . . 18 . . .
17 ... 16 ... 15. .. .

» * *

• Here I find it necessary — and
I apologize for the interruption
— to point up a most disagree-
able problem.

You see, I have become beset
by grave doubts about this most
interesting account, and, quite
frankly, I don’t know just how
to proceed. I have carefully
weighed some very dramatic fin-
ishes, but the more I ponder
them, the less sure I become.
Let us therefore inspect the pro-
posed endings, one by one:

* No. 1. The Popular Ending.
Obviously, Frank is a dirty cad.
He besmirched willfully and
knowingly the fair damsel Gigi’s
reputation. T he reader knows
well that this was a dastardly
trumped-up calumny of a bad
loser. So, let’s electrocute Frank,
and our true and vindicated lov-
ers will live happily ever after.

That’s what you think! What
about Gigi? Will she just swal-
low all this gaff and never re-
proach Jed for having killed her
former lover in cold electronics?
After all, he knew how to make
love, too! Won’t she, in a sacred
moment of passion, hiss at Jed,
with a “Go away, you murderer!
Don’t touch me with your yel-
low electronicotined hands!”

® No. 2. T he Doubtful Ending.
All right. Let’s kill Jed, her hus-

28

FORECAST

band. So Frank, the rat, survives
triumphantly, if cynically. Natu-
rally he hotfoots it to the widowed
Gigi and tries to console her,
pleading that the whole thing
was an unfortunate accident. Tn
time, this vile snake in Gigi’s
perfumed garden will of course
marry her. Brrrr — what a mis-
match! No, this won’t work.

• No. 3. The Clever Ending.
Remember ’way back we planted
that lightning gag, striking in two
spots simultaneously f Well, why
not? We kill the two heroes si-
multaneously! Fortunately, with
electronics— a form of lightning
— this is child’s play, easy as pie.

As any electrical engineer will
tell you, it works. So now we
have both boys good and dead.
But that emphatically does not
end it. We still have Gigi on
our hands, and I can’t see how
we can kill her, too — or can we?

Is she heartbroken and pros-
trated? Gad, no! Not Gigi. For
she glibly tells reporters that she
was sick and tired of these per-
sistent electronic hot-finger boys
anyway. She really married Jed
only in desperation, knowing full
well that she had been spliced to
a supercharged hot wire. No more
of such nonsense. She’s packing
and flying down to her own New
Orleans — pronounced Nu (Tr-
ie on — from where she escaped

to get away from Jean Pierre
Coquemar, her boyhood friend,
now sous-chef at Antoine’s Res-
taurant. “At least,” says Gigi
with aplomb, “he can cook — and
how !”

• No. 4. The Surprise Ending.
When Jed leaves Gigi on that
fateful evening of the duel, after
kissing her goodbv and pleading
an important business meeting,
something in his manner disturbs
her. She is perturbed by his un-
usual tenderness and the long-
lingering hot - incandescent - cath-
ode kisses.

After he is gone, her feminine
short-wave intuition signals an
electronic danger warning. She
calls up her uncle-boss, but. he
knows of no business meeting.
Then she calls up Frank- — -but
there is no answer. Thoroughly
alarmed, she takes a bus to the
Laboratories. But there are few
busses in the late evening and
she loses much valuable time.
Finally she arrives at her des-
tination and tries the main en-
trance — fortunately it isn’t
locked. She runs from one office
to another and finally locates
Frank’s. She bursts in just at
zero second and in the dim light
shining through the door, she sees
both Frank and Jed slumping in
their chairs - — both dead. (See
Ending No. 3),

1955

29

With a curdling ten - decibel
shriek, she throws herself on Jed,
grasps the hand that still clutches
the 50,000-volt charged flash-
light, kisses Jed full on the lips
with a low heartbreaking moan
— the kiss of death for her. The
two witnesses, Franz and Philip,
who had no time to turn off the
lethal current that energized the
death-dealing transformers, lose
their heads when they see the
three corpses and flee in panic.

Patently, such an ending,
where the three principals of the
story are cooked — though elec-
tronically — at the end, is hardly
appropriate. The public would
not stand for it. No movie mogul
would deign to buy the film
rights for such a gruesome tale.

® No. 5. J'he Corny Ending.
Somebody dreams the duel and
wakes up screaming. These
dream finishes are the hackneyed
finale of many misguided authors.
1 hey are too silly for words, the
dreams, that is.

POTP

Congressional Inquiry

He who fakes whaf isn't his'n
Most return it or risk a quietin'.

Meferdollargy

® Riches are not a measure of ability
but often a yardstick of greed.

I could go on to tell you at
least four more interesting end-
ings, but, unfortunately, none pan
out right. Yes, there is even one
where Gigi had a black-sheep-of-
the-family twin sister named
Giga, who could be dug up and
palmed off on that lowviper
Frank. But these skeleton-in-the-
closet relics- — even if they are as
gorgeous as Giga — are odious and
down-right corny. And who in
these spaceless days has a closet
big enough to store a skeleton?
They don’t build them that big
anymore !

So you see what I’m up
against. I started out blithely
with a sure-fire elegant idea. But
what happened? It imploded like
a punctured TV picture tube — a
complete internal collapse. I know
when I’m licked — I give up. I
really should stick to my fore-
casting. . . .

NOTICE: * r The Electronic Duel" will
be published In Esquire Mogorlire pit the
May 1955 issue. This story cannot be
reproduced without permission from the
copyright holders.

U RE E

Beastly Thought

• Hope springs eternal in the human
beast.

Defi notion

• Electronics — mar's controlled essence
of lightning which he directs at will,
near and far, to do his bidding.

30

FORECAST

THE TELEDOCTOR

Continued from page 1

and presses it against your skin.
By spying action, the medication
is shot into the arm quickly.

The doctor then gives you
whatever other instructions are
required and promises to “visit”
you again early in the evening.
When you are well again, phone
your druggist who will call for
the tele-doctor instrument.

# It should be noted that , short
of a serious operation , the doctor
of the future zuill be able to do
almost anything by teledoctoring
that he can do in person. He can
remove your bandages after an
operation, bandage you, remove
stitches post-operation ally, swab
wounds, all at a distance.

In the more distant future, he
will even be able to perform
emergency long-distance opera-
tions, provided a nurse or nurses
can be secured to assist him.

Soon, your doctor will be able
to see far more patients with in-
finitely greater efficiency. He will
not only save untold lives, and
generate better health for his pa-
tients, but his own life will be
made far easier and lie will him-
self live longer and so serve suf-
fering humanity far better than
was ever possible before.

NOTICE: Reproduction rights to this
(article have been acquired by The Amer-
ican Weekly, and may not be reprinted.

TEC-TELEDUCATION

Continued from page tB

teleducation a reality in the
immediate future. We need not
wait for a new development to
make it possible — all the neces-
sary elements are here now. All
we have to do is bring the new
system into being. We do not
have to be outclassed and out-
distanced by any other coun-
try in the world.

AUTO- ANALYSIS

Continued from page SI

twice a week. The analyst, or his
staff, answers by mail after the
tape has been listened to and proc-
essed. Thus the analyst, instead
of treating eight or ten patients
a day, can treat over a hundred
at much less cost to the patient.

If the analyst wishes and has
the space, he can install ten or
more soundproof airconditioned
booths, for patients desiring analy-
sis in the doctor-analyst’s office.

• In small centers which now
have none or only few analysts,
the nearest hospital could well
become a county psychoanalytic
center, treating thousands by mail
where only a few can be seen to-
day. All this requires intelligent
organization. It can be done for
the benefit of people who need
psychiatric help, but who either
cannot afford the average fee or
have no access to qualified psy-
chiatrists in their communities.

1955

31

7fj djt/r taft&ri' dJ^ov ve&njsmeti ^&>is crjn4ei&

. $/MMA&.dwsd*/ndevzdc(S <de / ..

'/ncvnvrwr^

OFFICIER

Monsieur Hugo GERNSBACK

Savant et homme de lettres

NEW YORK

au Palaie de Luxembourg , le lb d^cembrc 1^53*

jQ'

*2fc» iO^OAUO

ai g n £ Joseph BECH

Sffi&t'rUA £r*z-’

€**<4

/

Hugo Gernsback, editor and
publisher of RADIO-ELEC-
TRONICS, was decorated last
year by Her Royal Highness,
Grand Duchess Charlotte of
Luxembourg. The presentation
was made in New York City,
by B. N. Zimmer, Honorary
Consul General of Luxembourg.

(TRANSLATION)

WE, CHARLOTTE, BY THE
GRACE OE GOD, GRAND
DUCHESS OF LUXEMBOURG,
DUCHESS OF NASSAU, ETC.
On the report of our Minister
of Foreign Affairs and after
due deliberation of the gov-
ernment in session; have found
it proper and arranged to
name as

OFFICER

OF THE GRAND DUCAL ORDER
OF THE OAKEN CROWN
MR. HUGO GERNSBACK
SAVANT AND MAN OF
LETTERS
OF NEW YORK
Given at the Palace of
Luxembourg, December 16, 1953
(signed) CHARLOTTI

The Minister of Foreign Affair*
(signed) Joseph Becli